No passengers from American Samoa as COVID cases climb to 135

APIA SAMOA – 04 MARCH 2022: The Samoa Government is not accepting any travellers from American Samoa as positive community cases in the territory climbs to over 130.

The only approved flights that started this week are to repatriate American Samoan residents from Apia.

The flights resumed this week after the Samoa Government approved ASG’s request for repatriation flights to repatriate local residents from Apia.

The group includes US veterans, people who had travelled over for fa’alavelave and medical checks up.

Samoa had suspended inter Samoa flights after the spike in local COVID-19 cases from the January 27th Hawaiian Airlines flight.

Since the repatriation flights resumed this week, the ASG’s standard health requirements for the COVID-19 tests before arrival have been waived and travellers are being tested upon arrival at Pago Pago International Airport.

The Chairman of the COVID -19 Task Force, Lt Governor Talauega Eleasale Ale had announced that up to 70 local residents were waiting to be repatriated from Samoa.

He said since there is no COVID-19 community case in Samoa, the arrivals will not be required to quarantine.

The EOC report says there are 41 positive cases out of 435 tests conducted yesterday and pushes the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in American Samoa to 135.

The EOC report said there are no reported hospitalizations or deaths related to COVID-19.